DARKNESS

I’m afraid of the dark.

What was that?

That scuttling sound in the corner?

Did any one else hear that?

I can’t see at all in

this room of mystery.

Are those eyes?

If they are, who or what do they belong to?

I know I felt something

breathe against my neck.

It’s breath is sour and smells

just like rotting meat.

What is it, I wonder

As the worst thoughts run in my head.

Is it a monster of some kind?

Will I die?

I find a flashlight.

Finally! I cry out.

A light source!

I scan the room

looking for the owner of that

sound, and I see nothing.

Yet.

There it is!

It ran across

the circle of light

shining on the wall.

I pull my light to the corner

and see a monster

that has terrified me

since my childhood.

It runs at me, and I scream.

And wake up.

I laugh at the nightmare

telling myself there’s no such thing as monsters

And I keep believing that

for a while.

Wait,

What was that sound in the corner?

That scuttling sound……?